Several states have moved away from Columbus Day out of respect for Native Americans, who are horrified at the idea of celebrating their destruction and murder, a genocide, however the school books described it.
California and Delaware dropped the holiday in 2009. Maine, New Mexico, Vermont, and D.C. renamed the day Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2019. Beyond Indigenous People’s Day, other names exist for the second Monday in October. (President Biden refers to the holiday as Indigenous People’s Day.)
Either way, the holiday has lost so much meaning and focus, and there is so much pain and anger surrounding it that it has lost its heart and place as a national holiday. It is not, in fact, a holiday at all, just a trigger for indifference and different ways of looking at the world. More than 20 states still keep the name “Columbus Day” and celebrate it.
Celebrating a day birthed in a sea of blood and suffering is grotesque.
I was always taught that Columbus was a brave and pioneering hero who made our country possible. That’s what I was taught.
I always saw drawings of him getting off a boat in America, carrying out the wishes of a greedy Spanish Queen. The idea that he wasn’t discovering a nation but obliterating one was stunning to absorb. I didn’t know this until middle age, at the very least.
I did not learn until much later that many Native Americans compare Columbus to Hitler, as he mercilessly and relentlessly slaughtered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of the real and first Americans.
I suppose the people who run schools must have known that, but there was a vast conspiracy of politicians and school systems to bury the truth, the awful elephant in the room.
And the truth is this: he was a monster in every way, even in his times.
When I read about him, I came to a different conclusion to the truth.
I saw that the genocide references were not an exaggeration but a hidden reality, the kind Governor DeSantis in Florida is banning from elementary schools in Florida. He doesn’t want kids to know what happened. Early childhood seems to be the perfect place for them to learn about truth and reality.
Columbus Day was a big and suffocating lie. The only part I was taught that was true was that Columbus was a good enough navigator to get to America, even though he thought he had landed in India. From his first day, he butchered and stole from the real Americans to bring back many riches and please his Queen.
The idea of an Indigenous People’s Day, for all it’s worth, doesn’t lift me. It is like honoring Auschwitz Day for me. We have the right title but still lie about the truth.
I’d love to celebrate the many triumphs and the rich cultural history of Native Americans. We would need to start over again. Columbus succeeded in carrying out his Queen’s wishes, but he failed in one major one:
The Native Americans in America were not destroyed; they are very much alive in almost every state in the Union, even Florida, our newest hate state.
That would be something to celebrate for me.
Perhaps one day, our warring states might come together and agree on how the birth of America should be understood. It would have to be a holiday of conciliation and compassion that would be something to honor and think about.
I balk at the idea of canceling people; it never sits well with me to try to wipe from the earth the life and work of a human being, even the jerks and abusers.
Of course, this is precisely what Columbus set out to do and nearly did – obliterate a people who were innocent of any crime other than getting in the way of greedy European Kings And Queens. Like Robert E. Lee, people like Columbus should be learning tools and cautionary tales to remind us not to believe everything we are told and to take responsibility for digging deeper.
They also teach us that good people can be made to do horrible things.
Hate and genocide are never something to celebrate, only our rejection and escape from them.
I suspect Columbus was a brave and daring man, and I hope his harrowing role in the creation of our country isn’t canceled or forgotten. He has his place, and we all need to know it. But we have been asked to worship a man we know nothing about for years. Where were all of these decorated historians?
My fantasy is that one day we can celebrate “A Wiser And Gentler” America. That’s my dream holiday for America.
And it would remind us of some of the awful things we have done as a nation to all kinds of human beings, from women to Chinese immigrant workers, queer men and women to Native Americans, slaves, and African Americans living now.
I love this country very much, too much to lie about it and pretend it is something it hoped to be but never really was or is.
If our children don’t learn about that, how can we ever hope to change it before it hardens and turns to ice?
Here’s to Happy Wiser and Gentler America Day.
I support the idea of eliminating Columbus Day as a holiday, in favor of making election day a national holiday.
Right on Jon, thank you.
I agree, Jon. Let’s rename this “holiday” (interesting that this word comes from holy) and then let’s teach children the actual truth. Same with Thanksgiving, and other “holy” days. I, too, didn’t learn the truth about U. S. and world history until I had taken some college history courses. I was sickened by what I learned. Telling children lies from the beginning is what makes it so easy to keep lying to them as adults. It makes them fearful and good little consumers of things that keep this country running. This is the definition of indoctrination, which promotes and teaches implicit bias, which affects policies and living conditions. It’s a vicious cycle.
We have so much that we could learn from Indigenous cultures about how to live. I’ve recently read the wonderful book “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It’s a collection of her essays in which she points out that the way of life of many Indigenous cultures is one of sharing and harmony with nature as opposed to the materialistic and “ownership” culture that we have inherited from our largely European background.